Computers are known to include a central processing unit, system memory, video graphics processing circuitry, audio processing circuitry, and peripheral ports. The peripheral ports allow the central processing unit to communicate with computer peripheral devices such as a computer mouse, keyboard, printer, monitor, scanner, etc. Such peripheral ports include serial ports, parallel ports and more recently the Universal Serial Bus (USB) port.
The USB port provides a data transmission path that can carry up to 12 megabits per second of data. By utilizing a USB hub, multiple devices may be coupled to a single USB port of a computer. As such, a computer mouse, keyboard, etc., may be coupled to a USB hub and then coupled through a single cable to the USB port of the computer. Alternatively, the USB port may be coupled to a USB/infrared dongle that provides infrared transmissions with peripheral devices. Such a USB/IR dongle is disclosed in co-pending patent applications entitled “Method and Apparatus for Providing USB to IR Data Transmissions, having a filing date of Feb. 8, 1999 and a Ser. No. 09/246,613, “Method and Apparatus for Transporting Data Utilizing Multiple Data Transports” having a filing date of Feb. 8, 1999 and a Ser. No. of 09/246,655, and a patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Recovering Data That Was Transported Utilizing Multiple Data Transport Protocols” having a filing date of Feb. 8, 1999 and a Ser. No. of 09/246,653.
With the ever increasing trend of reducing the computer's desk space requirements, integration of peripheral devices is a benefit. Therefore, a need exists for a computer peripheral device that further includes infrared transmission capabilities.